Wikipedia On Notice: Centre Points Out Inaccuracies And Biases In Website's Content

Wikipedia, the US-based online library, has reportedly been put on notice by the Central government. This comes to pass after the Delhi High Court made some strong observations on the content, quality and moderation, along with the filtering of information on the website that has grown in significance over the years.

According to reports, the government has written to the Wikimedia Foundation-owned website, pointing out many complaints of bias and inaccuracies that allegedly exist on the website.

Case Against Wikipedia

According to reports from Bar & Bench, these observations were made by the Delhi High Court on Friday. This case came to pass after the Indian new agency, ANI, took Wikipedia to court.

ANI Vs Wikipedia

Wikipedia is being sued for defamation by ANI. The news agency has claimed that Wikipedia permitted defamatory changes to its article previously called ANI a "propaganda tool" for the current administration led by the BJP/NDA.

Wikipedia in Delhi HC

In the hearing, the HC chided Wikipedia for claiming itself to be an encyclopaedia and standing in way of the Asian News International's (ANI)'s demand for the takedown of the defamatory edits made to the Wikipedia page pertaining to the Smita Prakash-led agency.

Wikipedia has been embroiled in controversies of the same kind in the past as well. In India, on some occasions, there have been virtual protests and online calls for boycotts of the website for publishing content that did not fall in line with certain ideologies. In one of the cases, the website was also called 'Hinduphobic' in 2020 for publishing information that upset a few in the community.